ADRIAN MORGAN:Can Murder Ever be an Acceptable Response to Book Burning? A True Test for Moderate Muslims****
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.9144/pub_detail.asp
Bonfires of the Vanities
The burning of books or art is never to be recommended. Such actions – from the burning of Beatles’ records by preachers in the 1960s to the destruction of “decadent” books and paintings by the Nazis of Germany – are nearly always carried out by people who themselves contribute little to genuine civilization. It is through artistic endeavor that the human spirit finds its most lasting expression. Even if one does not agree with a book, or a painting, the person who destroys something they do not like is no better the Yahoos from Part IV of Swift’s Gullliver’s Travels.
In the 8th and 9th centuries, the Byzantine Empire witnessed rival Christian factions in conflict. One faction disagreed with the reverence given to icons, sacred paintings of saints, and destroyed them as “idols.” These actions by “Iconoclasts” appeared to follow the dictates of the Old Testament, as in Numbers 33: 52:
“Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places…”
In Italy, the term “Bonfire of the Vanities” applied to annual burnings of books and art. The most famous of these bonfires took place in Florence in February 1497. The instigator of this event, a Dominican friar called Giralmo Savonarola, would himself be burned on the same spot a year later. Savonarola and two others were suspended by chains from a cross, and a huge bonfire fire was lit underneath them.
In 16th century Europe, Protestants burned Catholic books, and Catholics burned Protestant books. When the burning of the books of religious opponents failed to satisfy the rage of fanatics, religious opponents were burned as heretics. In Britain, under the Catholic Queen Mary I, who ruled from 1553 – 1558, almost 300 Protestants were executed, with the majority burned to death. Such actions led to her popular name “Bloody Mary.”
When Mary’s Protestant sister Queen Elizabeth I ascended the throne, Catholics were then burned at the stake. In France, when heretics were burned, it was traditional for the executioner to strangle the victim with a small cord before the flames took hold. In Britain, less mercy was extended. When Bishop Hooper (above) was burned in Gloucester on February 9, 1555 for his Protestant beliefs, the fire blew out twice, prolonging his agony. The third conflagration eventually proved successful. According to Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, Chapter XII (pdf):
“But when he was black in the mouth, and his tongue so swollen that he could not speak, yet his lips went till they were shrunk to the gums: and he knocked his breast with his hands until one of his arms fell off, and then knocked still with the other, while the fat, water, and blood dropped out at his fingers’ ends, until by renewing the fire, his strength was gone, and his hand clave fast in knocking to the iron upon his breast. Then immediately bowing forwards, he yielded up his spirit.”
Christians stopped burning people for religious reasons long ago, but burning of books still occurs. The Koran is a book that one may approve of or disagree with, and in most Western nations it is not illegal to burn any book. However, the burning of this Muslim sacred book causes consternation and can lead to acts of violence.
Koran burning
On September 11 last year, Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, had intended to burn a Koran. Though Jones had only about fifty members of his ministry, the reactions to his proposed Koran burning day brought cries of horror from the highest echelons of the administration.
Hillary Clinton, General David Petraeus, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs and P.J. Crowley, who was the State Department spokesman at the time, all condemned Terry Jones’ plans. Even President Obama complained, claiming American soldiers’ lives could be at risk.
On September 11, 2010, Jones did not burn any Korans. He also made a vow that he would not carry out any such burnings. Despite this, two preachers in Springfield Tennessee did burn Korans on the anniversary of 9/11. Evangelical pastors Reverend Bob Old and the Reverend Danny Allen incinerated the Korans in a private ceremony. Rev Bob Old said before incinerating a Koran in a barbecue oven:
“It’s about faith, it’s about love, but you have to have the right book behind you. This is a book of hate, not a book of love.”
I wrote in defense of Terry Jones at that time on the pages of FSM because he seemed like an underdog being assailed by a majority. He made statements that showed he was not opposed to Muslims who supported the American constitution. Since then, he has made injudicious associations and his actions have recently been naive.
In January 2011, Jones was invited by a reactionary group called “England is Ours” to come to Britain. According to the Index on Censorship blog, the England Is Ours website provides “links to the BNP, the National Front and StormFront.”
He was banned from entry by the Home Office. His trip was to have been sponsored by a U.S. group calling itself Stand Up America Now (standupamericanow.org). Immediately after the U.K. Home Office banned Pastor Terry Jones from entering Britain, he had moved on to promoting an event titled “International Judge the Koran Day.”
A video by Jones (below), supported by Stand Up America Now, questioned what “should be done.” At the start of the video, Jones had clearly stated that he would NOT burn the Koran.
On Sunday March 20, as advertised by Stand Up America Now, a “trial” of the Koran took place. The pre-publicity for the “International Judge the Koran Day” included a video where it was threatened that if found guilty, the Koran would be burned, shredded, drowned or shot. The Koran was “found guilty” by Terry Jones, and then his assistant pastor Wayne Sapp enacted the judgment by setting fire to a copy of the book that had been marinaded in kerosene. The climax of the “trial” – where the copy of the Koran was incinerated – was videoed and distributed online, and then it became featured in Afghanistan media.
Though the reaction to the video of the Koran-burning was muted in the West, in Afghanistan, the reaction was one of outrage. The burnings of Korans or insults to Islam normally elicit outrage, and in countries like Pakistan mere unsubstantiated rumors of Koran-burnings have led to frenzied acts of sectarian violence, with Christian communities threatened and churches burned.
Massacre in Mazar-i-Sharif
Yesterday there were demonstrations in Kabul and in Mazar–i-Sharif, Afghanistan. The town of Mazar-i-Sharif in the north of the country was the scene of an event that must cause all taxpayers in Nato countries to consider if there is any point trying to “nation-build” in Afghanistan. After prayers, a crowd of 2,000 people marched on a UN compound. The mob engaged in clashes, and several people died. Two individuals were beheaded.
At least seven people died, including UN staff from Nepal, from Romania Sweden and Norway. Four of the dead were guards at the compound who were Nepalese. The other three worked as UN staff. One has subsequently identified as Lt Col Siri Skare, a 53-year-old female pilot from Norway. The agitations of the mob had been urged on at the Blue Mosque of Mazar-i-Sharif. As the mob marched on the UN compound, there were cries of “Death to infidels.”
Ban-Ki Moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations spoke at a press conference and said that he condemned the attack in “the strongest terms.” Speaking from Kenya, he described the Mazar-i-Sharif incident as an “outrageous and cowardly attack that cannot be justified under any circumstances.”
Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the UN, said,
“The dedicated staff of the UN Mission in Afghanistan does courageous work every single day to support the Afghan people under extremely different circumstances, including repeated attacks. It is inexcusable that these brave souls would be targeted for violence.”
Pastor Terry Jones, for his part, refused to take personal responsibility for what happened in Mazar-i-Sharif. Though he said to Agence France Presse that he was “devastated,” he added: “We don’t feel responsible for that.”
He released a statement in which he declared that the United Nations should take action against “Muslim-dominated countries” that “must alter the laws that govern their countries to allow for individual freedoms and rights, such as the right to worship, free speech and to move freely without fear of being attacked or killed.”
It is obviously true that in most Muslim-dominated nations, the rights to free worship of non-Muslim religious minorities are either less than those of Muslims, or non-existent. Religious intolerance is extended also to Muslims who in many nations are not allowed to leave Islam.
In Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Mauritania and Comoros, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Maldives, Oman and Qatar, punishments are imposed for leaving Islam.
Such legislation is in denial of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, where Article 18 declares:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”
Despite this, Muslim nations in the UN, supported by the Organization of Islamic Conference, have exploited the United Nations to introduce a resolution condemning blasphemy against religion – when the only “blasphemy” that remotely offends the OIC is blasphemy against Islam. UN Resolution 62/145, passed in 2007, referred to “Combating the Defamation of Religion.” This was seen by critics to be used to introduce Sharia into the West and to censure criticism of Islam in countries more used to freedom of speech . The resolution was introduced by Pakistan, with the OIC.
Pakistan is a backward and repressive country that has no respect for “combating the defamation” of non-Muslim faiths. Its blasphemy laws deliberately discriminate against Ahmadis (Ahmadiyyah Muslims) who are said to be heretics. Any Ahmadi who calls himself a Muslim or attempts to convert others can be jailed for three years under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws (PPC Section 298-B and 298-C).
Afghanistan is no better. In March 2006 a Muslim called Abdul Rahman who had converted to Christianity was under sentence of death for apostasy until he was ruled “mentally unfit” to stand trial and was smuggled out of Afghanistan to gain asylum in Italy. In Mazar-i-Sharif, protesters rioted for two hours when Rahman was released. They chanted “Death to Bush!” and other anti-Western slogans.
The city of Mazar-i-Sharif, where the Friday massacre of UN staff took place, was regarded as relatively “safe.” However, it has never been relatively safe for Christians who are thought to be proselytizing for their faith. On August 3, 2006 a group of Christian South Korean aid workers was expelled from Afghanistan. These were from the Institute of Asian Culture and Development (IACD) which had run medical centers in Afghanistan since January 2002. The group had intended to run a medical education event on August 5, 2006. Clerics from Mazar-i-Sharif protested until the Koreans were officially banished. They were accused of spreading Christianity, even though the organization denied this.
In June last year , two aid groups were suspended from working, on the orders of the Afghan government. In Mazar-i-Sharif then, a thousand protesters (below) turned out to condemn attempts by foreign Christians to allegedly convert Muslims. Around 20 individuals were said to have converted from Islam to Christianity, and these were jailed. In the Afghan parliament, there were calls for them to be executed.
Afghan intolerance of aid workers who are suspected of bringing Christianity is discussed on FSM here.
Aftermath of the Massacre
The killings in Mazar-i-Sharif were horrific. It is not the first time that extremists have attacked UN compounds in Afghanistan. In 1996, Mohammed Najibullah, the president of Afghanistan, sought refuge in a UN compound in Kabul. Here he was attacked by the Taliban. On September 27th he was castrated, beaten and hung while armed Taliban jeered below his corpse. This was the moment the Taliban came to power.
Today (on Saturday morning) there were reports that at least 27 people had been arrested in Mazar-i-Sharif for the murder of the UN workers.
However, in Kandahar, five people have been killed and more than forty have been wounded in a second day of rage. The dead and injured appeared to be from a large crowd of protesters. The protesters called out “Death to America” and “Death to Karzai” and “They have insulted our Koran.” The protesters attacked cars, a bus and set fire to a girls’ school.
We are now inured to the calls from so-called Muslim “advocacy” groups in America condemning any slight against Islam. CAIR is always quick to send out a press release to condemn actions that appear aimed at insulting or not respecting Islam.
I have crawled the news reports, hoping to find a single example of a Muslim “representative” condemning the attack upon the aid workers, and condemning the riots. At the time of writing, I have not found a single one.
Perhaps Keith Ellison, when he is not blubbering for dramatic effect, could stand up and declare that he believes that the life of a human being is worth more than a book – even a holy book. The book that was burned by Pastor Jones was one of millions of copies of the Koran that exist around the world.
But every human being on this planet, even a frothing Islamist or a fellow traveler or apologist, is a unique creation, an entity that has an innate right to life.
We have heard much recently about Rep. Pete King’s hearings on homegrown Islamic extremism, and then Dick Durbin’s hearings on Islamophobia. Durbin has not bothered to examine the far more deadly examples of kaffirphobia, of which the killings in Mazar-i-Sharif are a notable and bloody example.
Moderate Muslims declare they are insulted, that they are not respected. They have every right, a right that is entirely justifiable, to complain that their holy book has been desecrated.
But life should be a two-way street. The moderate Muslims who are said to exist in numbers in America should demand that their imams and their advocacy groups should declare that human life must always be worth more than printed paper.
If they cannot do that, then we must seriously question why such Muslims dare to call themselves moderate. If one cannot condemn murder outright and unconditionally, then one’s moral compass is faulty, pointing to the Qibla before probity. Do they still inhabit a mental landscape that belongs to a barbaric past, which disappeared in the West with the advent of the Enlightenment?
Or is barbaric lynching and murder now to be added to the long list of “negotiable” sins, no longer to be condemned outright, and to be viewed through the shifting perspectives of “moral relativism”?
Adrian Morgan
The Editor – Family Security Matters.
This article may be freely reposted and reproduced, as long as it remains in its entirety, and its original html source is given.
Update In Kandahar today, (Saturday April 2) four more people have died in protests, bringing the day’s total to nine, (16 since Friday).
Comments are closed.
